Bundesliga

After Matchday 20 of the TTBL, the line-up for the Liebherr TTBL Final4 is complete. By beating Bad Homburg, TTC Schwalbe Bergneustadt — led by star man Benedikt Duda — secured the final ticket for the season-ending showpiece. Record champions Borussia Düsseldorf, meanwhile, won the top-of-the-table clash at SV Werder Bremen in the deciding doubles and now stand on the verge of claiming the regular-season crown — and the right to choose their semi-final opponent at the Final4. For 1. FC Saarbrücken-TT, defeat against Fulda capped a disappointing week.

Werder coach Tamas: “I don’t feel like a loser”

Borussia Düsseldorf were the team celebrating at the end of the summit meeting — but “losing” side SV Werder Bremen still looked back with pride. “At the moment, I don’t feel like a loser,” Werder head coach Cristian Tamas said at the Dyn microphone. “We’ve won 3:0 twice, and in the matches we’ve lost we weren’t without a chance — that’s how I’d put it.” Düsseldorf’s No. 1 on Friday night agreed. “It really was a crazy match. All the matches were so close. We both showed why we’ve been two of the best teams in the league this season,” said Kanak Jha.

It quickly became clear that Bremen had one particular player capable of causing the record champions serious problems. Trusted again at No. 1, Kirill Gerassimenko repaid Tamas’ faith in emphatic style. Against both Li Yongyin and Jha, the Kazakh did not drop a single set, continuing his outstanding season. With a 19:9 record, Gerassimenko has developed into one of the TTBL’s top performers.

Three deciders go Düsseldorf’s way

In the three matches not involving Gerassimenko, the margins were razor-thin — and three times Düsseldorf held their nerve. Jha against Mattias Falck, Anton Källberg against Irvin Bertrand, and the doubles pairing Källberg/Li against Falck/Bertrand all won in the fifth set. Bertrand even had multiple match points, and in the deciding doubles Bremen led 8:4 in the final set before Düsseldorf reeled off seven points in a row to complete the comeback.

For Tamas, the defeat was frustrating, but “I wouldn’t call it a setback, because the lads’ performance was really good. We didn’t do that much wrong. You just need a bit more to win a match like this.” Werder would have to win their final two matches — and hope Düsseldorf lose twice — to still finish top.

Duda leads Bergneustadt into the play-offs

Bergneustadt’s eighth straight win carried special significance: for the first time since the 2018/19 season, TTC Schwalbe Bergneustadt have reached the play-offs and will now compete for the German championship at the Liebherr TTBL Final4. The qualification has been powered by their form: in 2026, only the opening match (a 2:3 defeat against Borussia Düsseldorf) has been lost. “We kept saying right until the end that we just needed to play,” head coach Frederik Duda said to Dyn after the match. “I hope we can prepare for it reasonably well, because it’s a very big event for us.”

His team treated the Bad Homburg hurdle with full respect. “We lost the first leg against Bad Homburg and knew it would be difficult,” said Duda, whose brother Benedikt was tested immediately against Juan Perez — a match-up that had gone Bad Homburg’s way in the first half of the season. This time, however, Duda quickly found his rhythm and won a comfortable 3:0. Bad Homburg’s No. 1 Jo Yokotani responded before the break with a straight-sets win over Adrien Rassenfosse to level the match at 1:1.

Ruiz wins the key match as Duda posts TTBL best mark

After the interval, Bergneustadt’s leaders delivered. Romain Ruiz dropped a set against Benno Oehme, but his four-set win was never truly in doubt. Duda then made it decisive with a second 3:0 win of the night in the battle of the No. 1s against Yokotani. Those two wins improved Duda’s TTBL record to 25:6, giving him a six-win cushion over second-placed Anton Källberg (17:4).

Father-and-son Meng/Meng doubles stun Saarbrücken

A roar of delight and a friendly chest bump marked the winning point for Fulda’s decisive doubles. The winners were not a long-established pair, but the father-and-son combination of Fanbo Meng and Qing Yu Meng. It was their first win of the season at the second attempt, after an earlier outing against Post SV Mühlhausen had ended in defeat. The family storyline, however, did little to lift the mood of Saarbrücken team manager Nicolas Barrois.

“This is very sobering for us. We didn’t want to lose this match — that much I can say,” Barrois told Dyn after his side’s second defeat of the week. Both teams had to improvise because of the World Cup in China, making the equation clear. “Normally Fan Zhendong gets two points and then you need the third point from somewhere. We hoped Ceddy or the doubles would deliver — and that wasn’t the case.”

Fan delivers, while Meissner and Arpas come up short

Fan Zhendong did his part in convincing fashion. Against Qing Yu Meng and Ruwen Filus, the Olympic champion had only one wobble — in the opening set against Meng, when he squandered six set points in a row and needed extra points. After that, he produced five dominant sets to take two straight 3:0 wins. Youngster Samuel Arpas from the second team had no chance against Filus (0:3), while Cedric Meissner could not find the decisive point after taking the first set against Fanbo Meng and lost in four.

In the deciding doubles, Saarbrücken appeared to hold the advantage. The Meng/Meng pairing is a lefty-lefty combination, and “Papa” Meng has not trained regularly for a long time. But the Saarbrücken duo never found their game, with Meng/Meng repeatedly striking through with heavy backhand winners. “It wasn’t a good doubles match, we have to say that. The serve-and-return play was catastrophic,” Barrois said in his assessment of the four-set defeat.

Play-off line-up complete as Düsseldorf gain the luxury of choice

The defeat drops Saarbrücken back to fourth place. With two points separating them from Bergneustadt, however, FCS still have the chance to reclaim third in the direct duel on the final matchday. The bigger aim — potentially even reaching second place to avoid a semi-final with Borussia Düsseldorf — has drifted further away after two defeats in a single week.

If the record champions hold on to top spot through to the end of the regular season, Danny Heister’s team will, for the first time, be able to choose whether they would rather face the third- or fourth-placed team in the semi-finals. “First place is very important. None of us want to play Saarbrücken,” the Dutchman said even before the match, underlining what the new rule means.

Matchday 20 fixtures

TTC Zugbrücke Grenzau – Borussia Dortmund 3:1
Yi-Hsin Feng – Alberto Miño 3:1 (7:11, 11:4, 11:9, 11:4)
Maciej Kubik – Kristian Karlsson 1:3 (10:12, 11:6, 3:11, 7:11)
Luka Mladenovic – Cedric Nuytinck 3:2 (11:8, 11:9, 9:11, 9:11, 11:7)
Yi-Hsin Feng – Kristian Karlsson 3:2 (11:13, 8:11, 11:9, 12:10, 11:5)

1. FC Saarbrücken-TT – TTC RhönSprudel Fulda-Maberzell 2:3
Fan Zhendong – Qing Yu Meng 3:0 (12:10, 11:5, 11:8)
Samuel Arpas – Ruwen Filus 0:3 (9:11, 4:11, 8:11)
Cedric Meissner – Fanbo Meng 1:3 (11:8, 8:11, 9:11, 8:11)
Fan Zhendong – Ruwen Filus 3:0 (11:3, 11:6, 11:6)
Meissner/Arpas – Meng/Meng 1:3 (6:11, 8:11, 11:6, 9:11)

SV Werder Bremen – Borussia Düsseldorf 2:3
Kirill Gerassimenko – Li Yongyin 3:0 (11:8, 12:10, 11:7)
Mattias Falck – Kanak Jha 2:3 (2:11, 11:3, 11:9, 10:12, 10:12)
Irvin Bertrand – Anton Källberg 2:3 (10:12, 11:7, 7:11, 13:11, 10:12)
Kirill Gerassimenko – Kanak Jha 3:0 (11:7, 12:10, 12:10)
Falck/Bertrand – Källberg/Li 2:3 (3:11, 11:7, 11:6, 5:11, 8:11)

TTC Schwalbe Bergneustadt – TTC OE Clarity-Telefonie Systeme Bad Homburg 3:1
Benedikt Duda – Juan Perez 3:0 (11:5, 11:7, 11:6)
Adrien Rassenfosse – Jo Yokotani 0:3 (11:13, 11:13, 4:11)
Romain Ruiz – Benno Oehme 3:1 (11:2, 11:8, 7:11, 11:4)
Benedikt Duda – Jo Yokotani 3:0 (11:9, 12:10, 11:7)

Saturday, 28 March:
15:00: TTF Liebherr Ochsenhausen – Post SV Mühlhausen

Sunday, 29 March:
14:00: TSV Bad Königshofen – ASC Grünwettersbach

All matches are streamed live on Dyn.

Picture: Anton Källberg of Borussia Düsseldorf (Photo: Jörg Fuhrmann).